7 comments:

We've got 5 fruit trees, a grapevine, a small raspberry patch and a garden in our back yard. I had to plant most of the garden in the mud because it has rained almost constantly for the last two months. I think the longest break we had was 5 straight days with no rain, and the tiller wouldn't start. Got the tiller started, it rained. Sometimes my life just sucks.

General stores, also known as dry good stores, up to the early 1900s mostly dealt in bulk goods, flour, sugar, cloth, etc. Things most people couldn't produce themselves. People would also bring in extra produce and eggs to sell. But the MAJORITY of a family's food was produced at home up until the Industrial Revolution when the family farms started dying off as kids moved to cities to find work. Even up to WWII, the government encouraged families to keep enough chickens to supply them with fresh eggs and meat.What this is saying is the grocery and general stores used to be supplemental, not primary, places to get food.

I agree it would be a vast improvement if, instead of our irrigation systems nationwide watering only grass, vegetable producing gardens were substituted. People with gardens get more exercise and would thus be healthier. We would have more fresh food also improving health. Locally produced food reduces fuel usage and cost, improving budgets and national security. Gardening in many areas would necessitate closer physical proximity to neighbors, hopefully fostering information-sharing and communal bonds, strengthening communities and national security.

It's so simple it seems trite but people who work outdoors at gardening are generally happier and healthier than the indoors crowd. Happier, healthier people live longer, require less medical intervention, and enjoy the freshest luxuriant tasting food that factory-farmed, chemical-laden, store-bought foods can never have.

If you've never gardened, you can start with a 5-gal bucket and one tomato plant. If you raise produce a few heirloom tomatoes successfully you will know the joy of flavor like you may never have known unless your grandparents were gardeners.

Gardening is also great therapy for stress and creates real-time lessons in the cosmic order of things and humility.

Meant to also say congrats to you, hiswiserangel, for your initiative in gardening. I obviously am a strong advocate for gardening on any scale and would love to see more people doing it. It's one of the few things that no matter when you start, each year affords a new opportunity to improve and the benefits accrue as the years go by.

Actually many successful forays to gain acceptance by you local codes enforcement can be stifled by making a mixed garden that is not your run of the mill straight row rectangle or square. Tear up the straight solid concrete walkway. Lay the whole plan out on paper first. A winding walkway that allows water to pass thru. Fruit trees. Plants of various heights to ensure adequate sun for all. Mix veggies and flowers. Lots of flowers to draw pollinators. Vines on inside side of fences and up on arbors. Make it beautiful and productive. Check into legal keeping of chickens and rabbits within city limits. Some town and cities allow small quantities. 3 hens will produce 60 eggs per month total average. Compost and start a worm bed. Even if you don't fish, scatter the worms on wet nights in your garden areas. They will thrive and improve the soil. Happy gardening.

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About Me

Supermom, Libertarian, and avid reader. As a stubborn, redheaded big-mouth, I was told to start my own blog and leave other people's alone. Other than that, I'm indescribable without using colorful profanity. Email at hiswiserangel@aol.com